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EDITORIAL - Dr Phillips' important intervention
published: Thursday | June 12, 2008
We can only assume that an important policy speech by a senior shadow minister would have been vetted by Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller.
If so, Dr Peter Phillips' intervention in Parliament's sectoral debate represented a fuller declaration of intent by the People's National Party (PNP) of a readiness for genuine bipartisan effort to tackle the problem of crime, political corruption and social transformation in Jamaica. At the very least, it marks Dr Phillips' continuing emergence as a post-partisan politician.
Either way, the signals are good for Jamaica, assuming that Dr Phillips still has ambitions of leading the PNP and becoming prime minister of the country.
What was particularly striking about the speech was that there was no hectoring denunciation of the Golding administration and demand for an instant solution to the criminal violence in Jamaica. Which is not to say there were not areas of criticism and defence of record.
Analytical speech
At its core, though, the speech was reflective and analytical and an attempt to find common ground from which to confront the criminals; which, we suppose, is the gift of someone who had been in the hot seat and has the benefit of experience.
Perhaps most emblematic of this approach was Dr Phillips' suggestion for the establishment of what he calls a corps of community safety officers. In practical terms, what he proposed was a volunteer, auxiliary body that would assist the police in the maintenance of law and and order in our communities.
The idea has echoes of the home guard that was controversially launched by the Manley administration during the ideologically turbulent 1970s. Critics at the time saw the home guard not as a genuine volunteer group, committed to community safety, but as party storm troopers with the mandate of enforcing the PNP's socialist ideology. Therein lies the gravitas of Dr Phillips and the PNP in putting it on the agenda.
Removing the shackles
It is significant that the PNP is not now in office, so the Opposition party is willing to trust the establishment of the corps to the Government that is formed by the Jamaica Labour Party. In the past, any such idea would hardly have come from the Opposition. But, as Dr Phillips said, "We cannot always remain prisoners of the past."
Another critical signal from Dr Phillips was the PNP's support for legislation already being prepared by the administration, for the preventative detention of criminal suspects, or at least amendment to the bail law to allow for an extension of the time that a suspect can be held before the habeas corpus rules kick in. His call for a new agency to investigate serious transnational crime and public corruption was not far off from a proposal that is on the government's agenda.
The bottom line, therefore, is that several issues that could form the basis of political bickering have been effectively removed from the frame of partisan quarrels. Criminals and their backers cannot, in that regard, expect to find safety behind the ramparts of the party.
But even more important than the specific policy proposals was Dr Phillips' recognition and acceptance of the role that a dysfunctional political process has played in getting us to where we are today. That he, and by implication the PNP, are ready for change, is important.
EDITORIAL - Dr Phillips' important intervention
published: Thursday | June 12, 2008
We can only assume that an important policy speech by a senior shadow minister would have been vetted by Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller.
If so, Dr Peter Phillips' intervention in Parliament's sectoral debate represented a fuller declaration of intent by the People's National Party (PNP) of a readiness for genuine bipartisan effort to tackle the problem of crime, political corruption and social transformation in Jamaica. At the very least, it marks Dr Phillips' continuing emergence as a post-partisan politician.
Either way, the signals are good for Jamaica, assuming that Dr Phillips still has ambitions of leading the PNP and becoming prime minister of the country.
What was particularly striking about the speech was that there was no hectoring denunciation of the Golding administration and demand for an instant solution to the criminal violence in Jamaica. Which is not to say there were not areas of criticism and defence of record.
Analytical speech
At its core, though, the speech was reflective and analytical and an attempt to find common ground from which to confront the criminals; which, we suppose, is the gift of someone who had been in the hot seat and has the benefit of experience.
Perhaps most emblematic of this approach was Dr Phillips' suggestion for the establishment of what he calls a corps of community safety officers. In practical terms, what he proposed was a volunteer, auxiliary body that would assist the police in the maintenance of law and and order in our communities.
The idea has echoes of the home guard that was controversially launched by the Manley administration during the ideologically turbulent 1970s. Critics at the time saw the home guard not as a genuine volunteer group, committed to community safety, but as party storm troopers with the mandate of enforcing the PNP's socialist ideology. Therein lies the gravitas of Dr Phillips and the PNP in putting it on the agenda.
Removing the shackles
It is significant that the PNP is not now in office, so the Opposition party is willing to trust the establishment of the corps to the Government that is formed by the Jamaica Labour Party. In the past, any such idea would hardly have come from the Opposition. But, as Dr Phillips said, "We cannot always remain prisoners of the past."
Another critical signal from Dr Phillips was the PNP's support for legislation already being prepared by the administration, for the preventative detention of criminal suspects, or at least amendment to the bail law to allow for an extension of the time that a suspect can be held before the habeas corpus rules kick in. His call for a new agency to investigate serious transnational crime and public corruption was not far off from a proposal that is on the government's agenda.
The bottom line, therefore, is that several issues that could form the basis of political bickering have been effectively removed from the frame of partisan quarrels. Criminals and their backers cannot, in that regard, expect to find safety behind the ramparts of the party.
But even more important than the specific policy proposals was Dr Phillips' recognition and acceptance of the role that a dysfunctional political process has played in getting us to where we are today. That he, and by implication the PNP, are ready for change, is important.
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